Art of curing meats.



20 I. mercial or chemical salts, soluble nitrites or- Omaha,

GEORGE F. DORAN, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

1,212,614. No Drawing. Original application To aZZ whom it mayconcern-.- Be it known that I, GEORGE F. l )0 RAN, a citizen of theUnited States, residin at of Nebraska, have invented new and usefulImprovements in the. Art of Curing Meats, of which the following is aspecification.

'My present invention relates to improvements in the art of curingmeats, and the primary objects of the invention are to pro- ,vide aprocess whereby a'complete'cure of packing-house meats may be effectedin a more convenient and rapid" manner than heretofore; to rovide aprocess which will increase the e ciency of the curing opera- 'tion; andto provide a process which will produce a milder cureand' a betterproduct from a physiological standpoint. To accomplishthese results, Iutilize a pickling liquor to which is added, in the form of thecomalkali metal nitrites, preferably sodium nitrite or potassiumnitrite.

The presehtapplication is a division of my prior application, Serial No.66,506, filed December 13, 1915. In thatapplication the process isclaimed broadly to cover the use of soluble nitrites generally, and thepresent application is intended tocover the process as carried out witha pickling liquor to which the soluble or alkali metal nitrites areadded as chemical salts to the pickling liquor;

' Heretofore,

comprised treating the meat with a pickling liquor called pumpingpickle, which pickling liquor consisted of a saturated'brine solutioncontaining 3% of sodium or potassium nitrate. According to the presentin- V trate, and from 05% vention, however, a pickling liquor is pre-'pared which consists of a saturated brine is added about threefourthsper cent. of sodium or potassium n1- to .35% of'a soluble inthe formofthe solution to which or alkali metal nitrite chemical salt, sodium orpotassium nitrite vbeing preferably used. One example of thep-geferred'procedure as applied to thecuringof ham-house prod ucts maybe described as followsg-The products. are. saturated w1th the picklingliquor, prepared as just described, by inserting perforated needles inthe various parts of the product (preferably 1n thevital points) andforcing the pickling liquor ART OF CURING MEATS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

in the countyof Douglas and tate the process of curing meats boiledsufliciently, the cage containing the Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

filed December. 13, 1915, Serial No. 66,506. Divided and thisapplication filed April 29, 1916.

Serial No. 94,486.

through the perforated needle by a hand or other pump. After sosaturating the products with the pickling liquor, the products areplaced i tierces containing a pickling l1quor whlch, for example, may bemade up of from 13 to 18% of salt, 1% of sugar, or its equivalent insyrup,-and .05% of potassium or sodium nitrite in the form of thechemical salt. The products are then kept at ..low temperatures in chillrooms or coolers for a period of from 20 to 40 days, this depending onthe size of the hams, and at the end of such period, the productsare"washed and then sent to the smoking room' where they are kept for.sever'al days exposed to smoke. After this, theproducts are finished.-

In cases where and ready for lIlSPGCtlOIl. the products are to be cookedbefore ship-' ping from the plant, as is the, case with corned beefforcooked ham, the process is more rapid because of the relatively highertemperatures employed. It is found that boiling temperatures develop thecures p y.-

Another example of the invention as. applied to the treatment of cornedbeef may be described as follows :The'meat is cut up into pieces aboutone inch size and extracted with warm water for thirty minutes,preferably. at a temperature of approximately 409 C. Next, the extractedmeat'is withdrawn, from the warm water'and immersed in a 70 brinesolution containing from '.O5% to .10% of sodium nitrite or potassiumnitrite, in the form of the chemical salt, for a period of one hour anda half,

after which time the temperature is brought,

to the boiling point. When the meat has been meat is withdrawn from thevat and sent to the packing department where it is canned and vacuumedand exposed tonlive steamunder 10 pounds pressure in a closed retort fora period of onehour and a half.

Another example of the process as applied to the treatmentof cooked hamsmay be described as follows:.The' raw hams are trimmed free from bonesand excess of fat and then 'pumpedwith pickling liquor in a mannersimilar to that described in the first example, this pickling liquorcontaining .05% to 35% of sodium or potassiumv nitrite in the form ofthe chemical salt. The

boned hams, after pumping with this pick-' ling liquor, are then placedin tierces containing brine, niter and nitrites, and sugar, or theirequivalent, and kept there for a period of time varying from 3 days to12 days, this depending on the size of the hams,

the larger ones requiring the longer treatment. The hams are then placedin a canvas or cloth covering and then inserted into a perforated ironcylinder and compressed until fairly tight. The cylinders with theircontents are then placed into tanks containing Water or brine heated toa temperature ranging between 140 and 220 F., or a temperaturesuificiently high to coagulate albuminous matters, and subjected to thisheat for about 20 hours. Brine or watermaybe used, depending uponwhether a mild or a salty flavor is desired by the trade. At the end ofthis treatment, the cylinders with their contents are removed to acooler and there allowed to cool down to a low temperature, this causingthe hams to assume a firm and fairly permanent shape.

' maintain them in permanent shape and they are then ready for shipment,unless a smoky flavor is desired, in which case, the hams .are sent tothe smoke-house,

Meats cured in accordance with the present, invention have a superiorand milder flavor as compared with those cured by processes asheretofore used. A considerable percentage of the nitrate, formerlv'usedin making the pickling liquor is eliminated, and hence the productsdonot have an after taste, due to excessive nitrates, and moreover, the,products do not have excessive saltiness, due to excessive processing.The products hold up satisfactorily at ordinary temperatures, and theniter content of the v The, hams may then be twined with a heavy cord tomeats processed by the present invention has been reduced materially,thus improving the products from a physiological standpoint.

I claim as my invention:

l. The herein described improvement in r the art of curing meats, whichcomprises treatlng the meats with a pickling liquorto which has beenadded sodium nitrite in the.

form of the chemical salts.

4:. The herein described process of curing meats, which comprisestreating the same with a pickling liquor containing soluble nitrites inthe form of-the chemicalsalts.

5. The herein described process of cur-- ing meats, which comprisespreparing a pickling hquor consisting of a salt brine solution, analkali metal nitrate, and an alkali metal nitrite in the form of thechemical salt, and treating the meat with the-pickling liquor soprepared.

In-testimon'y whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence oftwo-subscribing witnesses. 4 GEORGE F. DORAN,

' Witnesses: I

GEO. BACKUS, Born O. BRAWNER.

